A couple of years ago, a friend recommended this book and it's been on my shelf ever since. But it too the rather unbecoming meltdown earlier this week, to get me to start reading it. Monday's post should have been a dead giveaway, right? But it was Wednesday's decision paralysis that was the final push. 

Let's just say that the concept is not mind-blowing new. But that's the case with pretty much any self-help book. The point for reading any of these, though, is to find that one nugget of gold that reminds you of exactly what you need at the moment you most need it. 

From Goodreads:
The One Thing explains the success habit to overcome the six lies that block our success, beat the seven thieves that steal time, and leverage the laws of purpose, priority, and productivity.

Sometimes you pick up a book without really knowing much about it and it steals your heart. MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM was just that kind of book for me. I read it in a day which is unusual for me. I was absolutely charmed by this lovely story and characters.

From Goodreads:
When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn't expect a reply.

When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, neither does he.

They're both searching for something - they just don't know it yet.

Anders has lost his wife, along with his hopes and dreams for the future. Tina is trapped in a marriage she doesn't remember choosing.

Slowly their correspondence blossoms as they bare their souls to each other with stories of joy, anguish and discovery. But then Tina's letters suddenly cease, and Anders is thrown into despair.

Can their unexpected friendship survive?

A deep and luminous novel of self-discovery and second chances, MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM is a heartbreaking celebration of love, life and the surprises it throws at us. In a story that is at once urgent and tender, Anne Youngson polishes the everyday until it gleams.

One of the best perks of being a writer is making friends with amazingly talented writer and, when you're lucky, getting to read an advance copy of an upcoming book. This fabulous book releases on April 13 and I can't wait for the world to get their hands on it! 

From Goodreads: 
When Paige Meyer gets an email from a DNA testing website announcing that her father is a man she never met, she is convinced there must be a mistake. But as she digs deeper into her mother’s past and her own feelings of being the odd child out growing up, Paige begins to question everything she thought she knew. Could this be why Paige never felt like she fit in her family, and why her mother always seemed to keep her at an arm’s length? And what does it mean for Paige’s memories of her father, a man she idolized and whose death she is still grieving? Back in 1975, Betsy Kaplan, Paige’s mom, is a straightlaced sophomore at the University of Kansas. When her sweet but boring boyfriend disappoints her, Betsy decides she wants more out of life, and is tired of playing it safe. Enter Andy Abrams, the golden boy on campus with a potentially devastating secret. After their night together has unexpected consequences, Betsy is determined to bury the truth and rebuild a stable life for her unborn child, whatever the cost.

When Paige can’t get answers from her mother, she goes looking for the only other person who was there that night. The more she learns about what happened, the more she sees her unflappable, distant mother as a real person faced with an impossible choice. But will it be enough to mend their broken relationship?

Told in dual timelines, Little Pieces of Me examines identity and how the way we define ourselves changes (or not) through our life experiences.

This book has been a double dose of awesome -- not only is the story fabulous but I loved every minute listening to the narrator. And I promptly ordered a tree version because there were passages I had to read, not just hear.

From Goodreads:
A novel of survival, love, loss, triumph—and the sisters who changed fashion forever

Antoinette and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel know they’re destined for something better. Abandoned by their family years before, they’ve grown up under the guidance of pious nuns preparing them for simple lives as the wives of tradesmen or shopkeepers. At night, their secret stash of romantic novels and magazine cutouts beneath the floorboards are all they have to keep their dreams of the future alive.

The walls of the convent can’t shield them forever, and when they’re finally of age, the Chanel sisters set out together with a fierce determination to prove themselves worthy to a society that has never accepted them. Their journey propels them out of poverty and to the stylish cafés of Moulins, the dazzling performance halls of Vichy - and to a small hat shop on the rue Cambon in Paris, where a business takes hold and expands to the glamorous French resort towns. But when World War I breaks out, their lives are irrevocably changed, and the sisters must gather the courage to fashion their own places in the world, even if apart from each other.

Whenever I start a new writing project, I seek out books that have some similarities to what I'm working on. The magic ingredient that drew me to this book was the shipwreck. I absolutely loved these characters and the different POVs.

From Goodreads:
As the First World War rages in continental Europe, two New York heiresses, Sydney and Brooke Sinclair, are due to set sail for England. Brooke is engaged to marry impoverished aristocrat Edward Thorpe-Tracey, the future Lord Northbrook, in thewedding of the social calendar. Sydney has other adventures in mind; she is drawn to the burgeoning suffragette movement, which is a constant source of embarrassment to her proper sister. As international tempers flare, the German embassy releases a warning that any ships making the Atlantic crossing are at risk. Undaunted, Sydney and Brooke board the Lusitaniafor the seven-day voyage with Edward, not knowing that disaster lies ahead.

In London, Isabel Nelson, a young woman grateful to have escaped her blemished reputation in Oxford, has found employment at the British Admiralty in the mysterious Room 40. While she begins as a secretary, it isn’t long before her skills in codes and cyphers are called on, and she learns a devastating truth and the true cost of war.

As the days of the voyage pass, these four lives collide in a struggle for survival as the Lusitania meets its deadly fate.

This may be a strange recommendation considering my Monday post on taking an hour to not do anything, but I think it actually fits. While I love those first words of the day before it becomes light outside and before anyone else is awake around me, the point of the book is to find that extra hour to do something you otherwise wouldn't have the time to do. 

For me, right now, that goal is to read more. As a writer, reading is part of the job and yet I've been brainwashed into believing that sitting and reading in the middle of the day is wrong. I'll read before bed and whenever I'm waiting on something (for example, when my son is at the gym, or a doctor's appointment), but I will rarely give myself the okay to sit, read, relax when I'm at home.

So yes, my first slice of cake, as Karma Brown calls it, is a deliciously quiet hour of reading. 

From Goodreads: 
How to find guilt-free time for what you really want to do, and why it matters

Do you feel like you’re always busy, even as your to-do list continues to grow?

Do you think you can’t keep up as it is, let alone add another thing to your plate?

An award-winning journalist, avid reader and new mom, Karma Brown dreamed of writing her first novel. But between diapers and tight deadlines, how could she? Like so many of us, she felt stretched taut and hyper-scheduled, her time a commodity over which she had lost control. For Brown, the answer to this problem was to rise earlier every day and use that time to write. Although she experienced missteps along the way, after committing to her alarm clock and an online community of early risers, she completed a debut novel that became a national bestseller.

In The 4% Fix, Karma Brown reveals the latest research about time management and goal-setting and shares strategies that have worked for her as well as for others. Refreshingly, her jargon-free approach doesn’t include time-tracking spreadsheets, tips on how to squeeze in yoga exercises while cooking dinner, or methods that add bulk to those never-ending lists.

How will you use this one hour—only 4% of your day—to change your life?

A few months ago I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post by a fellow author about THE GIRL WHO READS ON THE METRO. I admit, the title and cover had me immediately. This turned out to be one of the best reads of 2020.


From Goodreads:
In the vein of Amelie and The Little Paris Bookshop, a modern fairytale about a French woman whose life is turned upside down when she meets a reclusive bookseller and his young daughter.

Juliette leads a perfectly ordinary life in Paris, working a slow office job, dating a string of not-quite-right men, and fighting off melancholy. The only bright spots in her day are her metro rides across the city and the stories she dreams up about the strangers reading books across from her: the old lady, the math student, the amateur ornithologist, the woman in love, the girl who always tears up at page 247.

One morning, avoiding the office for as long as she can, Juliette finds herself on a new block, in front of a rusty gate wedged open with a book. Unable to resist, Juliette walks through, into the bizarre and enchanting lives of Soliman and his young daughter, Zaide. Before she realizes entirely what is happening, Juliette agrees to become a passeur, Soliman's name for the booksellers he hires to take stacks of used books out of his store and into the world, using their imagination and intuition to match books with readers. Suddenly, Juliette's daydreaming becomes her reality, and when Soliman asks her to move in to their store to take care of Zaide while he goes away, she has to decide if she is ready to throw herself headfirst into this new life.

Big-hearted, funny, and gloriously zany, The Girl Who Reads on the Metro is a delayed coming-of-age story about a young woman who dares to change her life, and a celebration of the power of books to unite us all.

I admit, I struggled with reading during 2020. Not for lack of amazing books but for lack of focus. I started this book on January 1, 2020 and immediately fell for the delightful essays. So much so, actually, that I wanted to savor the book. I rationed the essays to one a night.

A few weeks ago I hit another mood slump which also translates to a reading slump. I plucked this book back out of the bookshelves and read a few essays. It's a lovely book that will remind you that life is made up of little moments and that joy is everywhere if you open your heart. 

From Goodreads:
Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights is a genre-defying book of essays—some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages—that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. His is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in his life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: the way Botan Rice Candy wrappers melt in your mouth, the volunteer crossing guard with a pronounced tremor whom he imagines as a kind of boat-woman escorting pedestrians across the River Styx, a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, pickup basketball games, the silent nod of acknowledgment between black people. And more than any other subject, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world—his garden, the flowers in the sidewalk, the birds, the bees, the mushrooms, the trees.

This is not a book of how-to or inspiration, though it could be read that way. Fans of Roxane Gay, Maggie Nelson, and Kiese Laymon will revel in Gay’s voice, and his insights. The Book of Delights is about our connection to the world, to each other, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. Gay’s pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.

There are few things that excite me as much as seeing a new release from a friend. And having the honor of reading an ARC (advance reader copy) is like winning the lottery. I adored Tif's earlier releases and even had the pleasure of doing an in-person event with her in early March to launch Once Upon a Sunset. 

It was an absolute pleasure spending last weekend with Regina, Adelaide, and Sophie (and no, I didn't get anything else done but who cares when you're lost in a good book!).

From Goodreads:
Regina Castro, Adelaide Wilson-Chang, and Sophie Walden usedto be best friends. As Army wives at Fort East, they bonded during  heir book club and soon became inseparable. But when an unimaginable betrayal happened amongst the group, the friendship abruptly ended, and they haven’t spoken since.

That’s why, eight years later, Regina and Sophie are shocked when they get a call for help from Adelaide. Adelaide’s husband is stationed abroad, and without any friends or family near her new home of Alexandria, Virginia, she has no one to help take care of her young daughter when she has to undergo emergency surgery. For the sake of an innocent child, Regina and Sophie reluctantly put their differences aside to help an old friend.

As the three women reunite, they must overcome past hurts and see if there’s any future for their friendship. Featuring Tif Marcelo’s signature “enchanting prose” (Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake) and the books that brought them together in the first place, In a Book Club Far Awayhonors the immense power of female friendship and how love can defy time, distance, and all old wounds.

I've long been a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books but Daisy Jones & The Six is in a world of its own. The audio book had been highly recommended and it was even more amazing than I'd anticipated. I can't tell you the number of times I'd get home from wherever I was driving, only to sit in the car to keep listening. 

This is one of the few audio books I suspect I'll be going back to.

From Goodreads:
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.